Named after a group of Norse warriors who would work themselves into a frenzy before battle and fight with reckless savagery and insane fury. Used today to describe a person acting in an insanely violent manner.

Did you see that guy go berserk on the footy field? He bit that other guy's ear off!

Berserk is a long-running manga series written by Kentaro Miura in 1990 which is set in a medieval Europe-inspired fantasy world. The story centers around Guts, a mercenary with a very large sword and a dark past, Casca , his ill-fated lover and Griffith, Guts's former best friend, who betrayed him in order to become a powerful god-like demon.

The manga was adapted into a 25-episode anime series which covers Guts's origins with Griffith and Casca while they were members of a mercenary group called The Band of the Hawk. When Guts and Griffith's luck finally turns, the Band of the Hawk arc ends messily, and the series returns to the present day to show the deep-rooted effects of everything that happened in the previous arc.

The manga is a masterpiece in terms of storytelling and artwork with well-developed characters and an interesting fantasy setting. Think of it as a manga equivalent of "A Song of Ice and Fire".

"In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own will."

barbaric warrior that would go in to a frenzy before battle thanks to a special kind of mushroom, they would stand in front of the enemy army and taunt them. they where usually very big and strong, fight half naked (no armor) and used a big two handed axe... also they where susually the first to die, but the first to break the enemy's morale.
their actualll name was "berserka"... dont really remember what it ment in their lenguaje...

woa, that dude went totally berserk on those joks!!!... j00 g07 0wn3d f4g075!!!